26 November 2018

Plant based diet... and where do you get your protein from?

Submitted by: Federico Fernandez Fernandez

If you are a vegan or on a plant based diet, you probably heard it a thousand times:- But, where do you get your protein from? 

That question and an array of other such as,  "So you are Vegan, do you eat fish? What about milk? What about chicken?  Not even cheese?" are the questions that a plant based or vegan person would be subjected to at most lunches or dinners.

The idea that a plant based diet is protein deficient is completely erroneous.

Let's put things into perspective...

Just think of some of the strongest animals in the world, like the Gorilla, or the the Elephant, or the Buffalo, yes they are muscly and they don't really look like they are missing any protein, but, yes, you guessed correctly, they only eat plant based protein.

Plant based protein is much easier for the body to digest compared to a diet rich in animal proteins which takes 7 days to digest! .... yes, every time you eat a steak, or a roast chicken,  that stays in your body for up to 7 days.....hmmmm.

Plant proteins do not contain nearly as much saturated fat that many animal protein sources have. In fact,  plant protein doesn't have any saturated fat at all! In addition to not containing this unhealthy fat, these plant sources rich in  protein actually have health-boosting effects. 

Now, let's talk about bean protein, yep, bean protein is one of the leanest, meanest proteins in the market as they pack 21 grams of protein in every 100 grams of product. No saturated fat, 16 grams of fiber, and so much variety in flavours!

If we speak about bean protein, almost instantly a South African company comes to mind: Merki Plant Based Food, this company took the vegan and plant based market by storm this year with their range of frozen products.

They make bean based patties is 6 spectacular flavours using different combinations of beans and legumes for their tasty protein packed burgers.

Their products are:

  1. Pistolero (a Gourmet Mexican style patty combining Butter beans, Red Kidney Beans and Black Beans)
  2. Godfather (a Gourmet Italian style patty combining Butter Beans and Cannellini Beans)
  3. Bapu (a Gourmet Indian style patty combining Lentils and Chickpeas)
  4. 2Thai4 (a Gourmet Thai style patty combining Butter Beans and Black Beans)
  5. Tango (a Gourmet Argentine style patty combining Butter Beans and Chickpeas)
  6. Watashi (a Gourmet Japanese style patty combining Butter Beans and Rice)

The flavours are extraordinary and there is  no need to add sauces as the patties which  burst with their unique flavours, instantly transport you to exotic locations around the world.

So if you are thinking of going Vegan or following a plant based diet, this is a company to look out for, they don't use any soy, they don't add artificial flavourings or preservatives!

As per their website, they have stockists nationwide; they are based in Johannesburg and stock in Durban, East London, Cape Town and Plettenberg Bay (you can find your nearest stockist on their site AND buy directly from them!) 

Published in Health and Medicine